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 The facade | |
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| Address | Pavia, Corso Strada Nuova, 138 Italy |
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| Coordinates | 45°11′18.76″N9°9′20.92″E / 45.1885444°N 9.1558111°E |
| Owner | City of Pavia |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1773 |
| Architect | Antonio Galli da Bibbiena |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Teatro Fraschini is an opera house in Pavia, Italy.
The Theater of the Four Noble Knights – the original name of Fraschini – was designed to counter the whims of the noble Giacomo Omodei, an aristocrat from Pavia and owner of one of the most popular theaters in the city around the middle of the 18th century. In fact, it seems that Giacomo Omodei forced the public, and the other aristocrats, to wait for the start of the shows until his arrival. [1]
In 1772 four noble Pavesi lords joined to form the Society of Knights: Count Francesco Gambarana Beccaria, Marquis Pio Bellisomi, Marquis Luigi Bellingeri Provera and Count Giuseppe Giorgi of Vistarino. They shared the administration and direction of the theater and had entrusted the project for its realization to Antonio Galli da Bibbiena, representative of an ancient and prestigious family of scenographers-architects. The works for the construction of the Theater of the Four Noble Knights began in 1771 and the theater inaugurated its first season in 1773, in the presence of Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria-Este. The theater was inaugurated on May 24, 1773, with the opera Il Demetrio, composed by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček on verses by Pietro Metastasio. [2]
In 1869, the Municipality of Pavia acquired the ownership of the theater, which was soon to be renamed Teatro Fraschini, in honor of the Pavese tenor Gaetano Fraschini. [3]
The Fraschini is an Italian theater; the great hall of the theater is almost in the shape of a horseshoe and seats 409, according to the prevailing taste in the 18th century; it is the artistic example of the perspective research of the Baroque. The floor plan of the hall is bell-shaped with a sound box (optimal solution for acoustics) obtained from an impracticable gallery under the stalls. Above a Tuscan-type bossaged arcade, there are three tiers of boxes (with Doric, Ionic Corinthian composite and Attic capitals) and in addition two upper tiers (the fourth order is a tribune and the fifth is “loggione” and two galleries). [4] The large ceiling fresco was remade in 1909 by Osvaldo Bignami. The two large statues on either side of the proscenium, the work of Michele Forabosco, represent respectively Music and Poetry. [5] On the second level there is an oven still clearly visible and preserved (the theatrical life of the nobles crossed the limit of attending the shows, and extended to entertainment with dinners and board games in the boxes of the property and in the sitting rooms of the backstage). Each stage has a dressing room and most of them retain stuccos and frescoes from the 18th century, different from each other according to the personal taste of the original owners. In fact, since the foundation, the boxes were sold to private individuals who were required to furnish with tapestries, furniture, frescoes, stuccos, doors and curtains, as long as they did not break the overall appearance and architecture of the hall. [6] The façade, which opens onto Strada Nuova, has a porticoed atrium open into three porticoes and two upper floors marked horizontally by Doric, Ionic and Corinthian cornices, between which windows with a tympanum hat open. [7]
Although already a few decades after its inauguration it was considered grand, but far from the neoclassical style, now dominant, the theater has remained miraculously intact in the original structure. [8]
Santa Maria del Carmine is a church in Pavia, Lombardy, northern Italy, considered amongst the best examples of Lombard Gothic architecture. It was begun in 1374 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, on a project attributed to Bernardo da Venezia. The construction followed a slow pace, and was restarted in 1432, being finished in 1461.
Santa Maria di Canepanova is a Renaissance style Roman Catholic church located in central Pavia, region of Lombardy, Italy. Although in the past the design was popularly attributed to Bramante, the church was designed by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo.
Pavia Cathedral is a church in Pavia, Italy, the largest in the city and seat of the Diocese of Pavia. The construction was begun in the 15th century on the site of two pre-existing Romanesque, "twin" cathedrals. The cathedral houses the remains of St. Sirus, first Bishop of Pavia, and a thorn purported to be from the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ. The marble facing of the exterior was never completed.
The Civic Museums of Pavia are a number of museums in Pavia, Lombardy, northern Italy. They are housed in the Castello Visconteo, or Visconti Castle, built in 1360 by Galeazzo II Visconti, soon after taking the city, a free city-state until then. The credited architect is Bartolino da Novara. The castle used to be the main residence of the Visconti family, while the political capital of the state was Milan. North of the castle a wide park was enclosed, also including the Certosa of Pavia, founded 1396 according to a vow of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, meant to be a sort of private chapel of the Visconti dynasty. The Battle of Pavia (1525), climax of the Italian Wars, took place inside the castle park.
San Teodoro is a Romanesque-style Roman Catholic church in the town center of Pavia, Italy.
San Lanfranco is a Romanesque-style Roman Catholic church and former abbey, located on via San Lanfranco Vescovo, 4/6, just west of the town center of Pavia, region of Lombardy, Italy.
Characteristic of the historic center of Pavia is the presence of medieval noble towers that survive in its urban fabric, despite having once been more numerous, as evidenced by the sixteenth-century representation of the city frescoed in the church of San Teodoro. They were mostly built between the 11th and 13th centuries when the Ghibelline city was at the height of its Romanesque flowering.
The church of San Francesco of Assisi is a Catholic religious building in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy.
The church of San Giovanni Domnarum is one of the oldest in Pavia. In the crypt, which was rediscovered after centuries in 1914, remains of frescoes are visible.
The Basilica of Santissimo Salvatore is a Roman Catholic church in Pavia, region of Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 657 by the Lombard king Aripert I and became a mausoleum for many of the Lombard kings.
The church of Santa Maria in Betlem, founded around 1130, stands in the characteristic district of the Borgo of Pavia, located, after the Ponte Coperto, on the other bank of the Ticino river from the city center.
The monastery of San Felice was one of the main female Benedictine monasteries of Pavia; founded since the Lombard period, it was suppressed in the 18th century.Part of the church and the crypt survive from the original Lombard complex.
The Broletto or Broletto Palace of Pavia, Italy has for centuries housed the civic government offices of this city found in the region of Lombardy, Italy. The term Broletto refers to a buildings equivalent to the town hall or town assembly.
The church of San Marino is a Catholic church in Pavia, in Lombardy.
The Old Campus of the University of Pavia is a complex located in Pavia, in Lombardy, home to the rectorate and some university faculties and the University History Museum of the University of Pavia.
Palazzo Mezzabarba is a palace in Pavia, Lombardy, a notable example of Lombard rococo, It has been Pavia's city hall since 1875.
The Church of San Tommaso is a former Catholic church and monastery in the city of Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It is located within the historic city center and belongs to the University of Pavia.
The monastery of Santa Maria Teodote, also known as Santa Maria della Pusterla, was one of the oldest and most important female monasteries in Pavia, Lombardy, now Italy. Founded in the seventh century, it stood in the place where the diocesan seminary is located and was suppressed in the eighteenth century.
Palazzo Cornazzani is a palace in Pavia, in Lombardy, where, between 1895 and 1896, Albert Einstein lived.
Palace Carminali Bottigella is a noble palace built by the ancient Beccaria family from Pavia. The original structure from the Sforza era was built between 1490 and 1499. The façade, which retains the original terracotta decorations, is one of the major examples of Renaissance civil building in Pavia.